Politics & Government

Smithtown and Huntington Unemployment Rates Drop in February

Both towns showed a decrease in unemployment rates in February 2011 from February 20101, as well as that of January 2011.

From February 2010 to February 2011, unemployment dropped .5 percent in the Town of Smithtown, and .2 in the Town of Huntington, according to data released Tuesday by the New York State Department of Labor.

In Smithtown, the unemployment fell from 7 percent to 6.5 percent, Huntington rates dropped more dramatically, from 7.2 percent in February 2010 to 7 percent in February 2011.

The February 2011 unemployment rates for each town were also lower than that of January 2011.

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Both towns fell well below the Suffolk County unemployment rate of 8.2 percent for February 2011, which was also .5 percent lower than a year earlier when the rate was 8.7 percent.

Of the .5 percent decline, Long Island economist with the New York State Department of Labor Michael Crowell said is a “pretty healthy decline,” and added, “the bad news is it’s just the first month so it’s too early to see a trend there.”

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Smithtown and Hutnington's unemployment rate also fell well below the Long Island rate of 7.8 percent and the New York State rate of 8.7 percent.

Crowell said that although the decrease in unemployment is positive, there is a lot of ground to make up since the recession.

“Obviously you’d rather have it go down half a percentage point than up,” he said. “Before the recession began the employment rate in Suffolk was closer to 4 percent, so obviously we have a long way to go to get back there.”

Smithtown’s labor force dropped off slightly from February 2010 to February 2011, from 61,000 to 60,800, and decreased from January 2010 when the labor force was 61,200.

The number of people employed was slightly lower in February 2011 from February 2010 – 56,900 people were employed in February 2011 versus February 2010 where 56,800 people were employed. The number of people employed in February 2011 was lower than it was in January 2011, when there were 57,100 people employed.

The number of people unemployed dropped in February 2011 from February 2010, with 4,000 people unemployed this year compared to 4,300 people last year. This was also true from January 2011 where there were 4,100 people out of work.

Huntington experienced a similar decrease in labor force, from 103,700 people in February 2010 to 103,100 one year later. The exact same decrease occurred in February 2011 from the month prior.

The number of people employed raised slightly to 95,900 in February 2011 from 95,700 in February 2010. However the rate has decreased from January 2011, when 96,200 people were employed.

As far as unemployed individuals in Huntington, 72,000 were out of work in February 2011, compared to 8,000 in February 2010. That figure is also below the January 2011 rate of 7,500 unemployed.

Southampton Patch editor Brendan J. O’Reilly contributed to this article.


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